Refugee Admissions To Hit 40-Year Low Under Trump

Por: Mary Giovagnoli http://immigrationimpact.com

President Trump yesterday proposed a reduction in the annual number of refugee admissions to 18,000 persons for 2020. This is the lowest number ever in the 40-year history of the refugee program , and the fourth time Trump has reduced refugee admissions since January 2017.

Simultaneously, Trump has issued an Executive Order that requires states and localities to consent to the placement of refugees in their communities. This new order appears to track arguments made by states like Texas in failed lawsuits challenging the government’s right to resettle refugees. It sets up a scenario in which cities and states could be pitted against each other in cases where a local community welcomes refugees but the state government does not. This one-two punch has already been swiftly denounced by religious leaders, refugee organizations, and a wide range of politicians who view these actions as essentially a death knell for the refugee program in the United States.

How did we get to this place?

The Refugee Act of 1980 created two independent streams of protection for persecuted people—1) the admission of refugees, meaning people outside the United States who have already been found to need protection; and 2) the asylum system, created for people who seek protection within the U.S. or at our borders. The President is authorized to set the annual refugee admission numbers, in recognition of the role refugee admissions play in diplomacy and national security, but there is no cap for asylum seekers. After all, how can you predict how many people will be desperate enough to risk everything to seek asylum in another country?

Although the administration claims it is cutting refugee admissions because of security concerns and resource allocation issues, it’s been clear from the beginning that slashing refugee admissions is part of a concerted effort to slash all immigration by any means possible.

The President must consult with Congress over refugee admissions, but ultimately has the final say, so destroying the refugee program has been an easy starting point. And yet the State Department has justified the cuts as necessary to deal with the humanitarian crisis at our southern borders, arguing that we shouldn’t go looking for refugees abroad when we should be dealing with those in need of protection within our own country.

This is double-speak at its finest. The refugee admissions program has always operated independently of the domestic immigration scheme—no matter how many different attempts to reform the immigration system, the refugee program was able to operate effectively and within strong security parameters, admitting people when virtually every other aspect of our immigration system was grid-locked by backlogs and punitive laws. In many ways, the refugee program was a jewel in the crown, emblematic of America’s best values and motives.

To destroy that program in the name of a humanitarian crisis on our southern border is disingenuous. The Trump administration has made no effort to prioritize humanitarian cases in the United States. Instead, it has sent asylum seekers back to Mexico to wait for months, facing violence and poverty, while they wait for a hearing date, creating a humanitarian crisis in which at least 48,000 people are forced to remain in Mexico with no infrastructure to support them. Thousands more are still waiting at the border for a chance to even make their claim, as the Trump administration has imposed strict limits on the number of people who can enter the country to seek asylum each day.

In light of the staggering drop in refugee admission numbers, and the outlandish claims about the impacts of asylum caseloads, the executive order is like pouring salt on a wound. So few refugees will be admitted this year that existing refugee resettlement programs will have to drastically reduce locations and staff. It’s likely that the only sites able to receive refugees in the coming year will be those who already have deep community support and where refugees are already thriving.

Many communities enthusiastically welcome refugees and immigrants and will continue to do so, but these latest actions will make it even harder for refugees to feel safe.

Reviving the refugee program one day in the future will be difficult, though not impossible. But it depends on the country rejecting claims that admitting refugees and processing asylum claims are mutually exclusive. They are not, no more than admitting foreign students or visitors prevents the government from naturalizing people. The Trump administration is trying to narrow our vision of what is possible by pitting refugees against asylum seekers. There is room for both, and for far more than the administration wants us to believe.

 

Fuente: http://immigrationimpact.com 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4514-Refugee-Admissions-Under-Trump.html

Welcoming Week 2019 Showcases America’s Inclusive Spirit

By Wendy Feliz www.immigrationimpact.com

Welcoming Week 2019 has arrived. Communities around the nation are spending the week of September 13 – 22 bringing together immigrants, refugees, and longtime residents in a spirit of unity and celebration.

Despite the daily news on immigration, Americans are far more welcoming than one might think. In fact, average Americans (the ones born here and the ones who weren’t) come together each day to build lives, provide for their families, and realize their American dream.

Welcoming America encourages every community in the nation to celebrate that inclusive spirit in all of us.

The events taking place across America include book talks, civil dialogues, art installations, and community-based improvement projects.

Americans increasingly recognize that building welcoming communities and a nation where everyone feels like they belong makes us stronger economically, socially, and culturally.

In fact, the movement is growing. Last year there were over 2,000 events in 400 communities with more than 80,000 people participating.

This is an important moment in our nation. At a time when political rhetoric has deepened divisions and hate crimes are on the rise, Welcoming Week 2019 reminds us to get involved and help build the kind of country we can all be proud of.

 

 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com - YouTube Welcoming America 

https://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a4477-Welcoming-Week-2019-has-arrived.html

Massacre at Pittsburgh Synagogue Tied to Anti-Refugee Sentiment

Written by Mary Giovagnoli

In a world of instantaneous news, the nation learned of the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue on Saturday in Pittsburgh almost in real time. As the details emerged, we discovered that 11 Jewish worshippers had been murdered by Robert Bowers, a self-described anti-Semite with a hatred for Jews, refugees, and immigrants.

Shortly before embarking on his murderous actions, Bowers allegedly posted on an alt-right social media site about his anger toward the refugee support group HIAS, formerly known as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. HIAS is one of the nine national agencies that helps to resettle refugees in the United States and serves refugees of all faiths and nationalities. 

The shooter believes the Jewish nonprofit was helping transport members of the Central American migrant caravan into the United States, repeatedly referring to the caravan as “invaders” who want to “kill us.” 

Bowers was also agitated when HIAS organized refugee welcoming events at Jewish congregations around the country. He shared a list of these congregations on his social media accounts, thanking HIAS for providing a list of targets. 

This attack on Jewish worshippers in a place of sanctuary is gut-wrenching and the most recent of many mass killings this yearalone. His act was fueled by a toxic mix of hate speech, creeping anti-Semitism, and a growing intolerance of the foreign-born. 

Unfortunately, these dark ideas have always been lurking in the hearts of some, but people are becoming bolder in their hatred, encouraged by a president who repeatedly crosses the lines of decency when it suits his political ambitions. 

Refugees and immigrants are cast as dangers and national security threats, not because it is the truth, but because they are convenient scapegoats. They are easy to blame for political problems that have deep economic and social causes but have little to do with immigration. 

But convenient rhetoric has consequences. Bowers’ hatred is a product of our culture and our tolerance for hateful speech. Not just hate speech by its legal definition—but hateful speech, in which we cheer on and vote for politicians who advocate violenceagainst their opponents, fabricate conspiracies at the drop of a hat, turn victims into enemies, and attack entire groups of people. 

No one can say what caused Bowers to pull the trigger and end innocent lives, but no one can deny that today’s America is becoming a breeding ground for extremist acts. 

This must stop. A return to honest, candid, but respectful political discourse is a necessity. Policies that encourage diversity and trust should be the norm. 

In that spirit, we must open our country again to refugees—people who are fleeing hate and violence—because it is in that act of love that we lose our fear. 

Each of us must pledge to do more to ensure that there will never be another worship service that ends in tragedy. As Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS noted, “Everybody has to be engaged in calling out hate.” 

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

http://www.inmigracionyvisas.com/a3938-Massacre-against-refugees-and-immigrants.html

Immigrants And Refugees Are Among America’s 2017 Nobel Prize Winners

Written by Melissa Cruz. 

The Nobel Prizes, awarded annually in recognition of extraordinary achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace, have once again been won by Americans who came here as immigrants and refugees. Three out of the five Nobel Prize categories included immigrants or refugees.

Immigrants have a history of winning The Nobel Foundation’s numerous awards—33 of 85 American winners have been immigrants since 2000. In the chemistry, medicine, and physics categories respectively, foreign-born Americans have won 38 percent of chemistry and medicine prizes, as well as 40 percent of all physics prizes awarded in the last 17 years. 

This year, scientists and researchers have been awarded prizes in physics, chemistry, and peace: 

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded, in part, to German-born Joachim Frank. The biophysicist developed a method by which water can be frozen rapidly, ensuring that biological molecules in the water don’t form ice crystals and become blurred. This allows Frank to take a more detailed image of molecules. This image can then be used to study the molecules and potentially identify new cures for diseases.
• The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to physicist and MIT professor Rainer Weiss, among other members of his team. Weiss, also originally from Germany, designed an instrument that can detect gravitational waves. By studying these gravitational waves, Weiss is able to detect celestial events such as black hole mergers. Notably, Weiss is also a refugee—he fled from his home as a boy and immigrated to the United States during the Nazi’s rise to power.
• The Nobel Prize in Peace was awarded to Alexander Glaser and Zia Mian, among the other members of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Glaser and Mian, both researchers at Princeton University and born in Germany and Pakistan respectively, work to “outlaw and eliminate all nuclear weapons” under international law through their work with ICAN. Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, remarked that the award represented “encouragement” to nuclear powers to continue negotiations around their use of weapons.

As with the winners from previous years, these immigrants and refugee have shared their talents, innovation, and energy with the nation. These Nobel Prize winners show that the United States must remain a welcoming place because our country would be losing out on a great deal if it shuts itself off to the foreign-born.

Photo by Adam Baker

Source: www.immigrationimpact.com 
http://inmigracionyvisas.com/a3723-Immigrants-and-refugees-who-won-the-Nobel-Prize.html

Refugee Admissions Resume But Government Will Still Restrict Some Countries

Written by Tory Johnson in Humanitarian Protection, Refugee Status 
With its current refugee ban formally expiring, this week the Trump administration announced it will resume the U.S. Refugee Admissions program —with one major caveat: refugees from 11 countries are generally barred from the country for an additional 90-day period. 

Although the administration did not name the 11 countries subject to additional review, they appear to be Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, according to news outlets. With the exception of North Korea and South Sudan, these are all Muslim-majority countries. 

While the ban is in place, refugees from other countries will be prioritized instead, according to the Executive Order. Yet 44 percent of all refugees admitted to the United States last fiscal year were from these 11 countries, meaning this could severely limit the number of refugees admitted this year—which is already set at a record low of 45,000. 

In addition, new screening requirements and refugee restrictions are being implemented on the refugee program, as outlined in an October 23 memo sent to the White House by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke, and National Intelligence Director Dan Coats. The document suspends the admission of family members of refugees already admitted to the United States until “additional security measures” are implemented. 

All refugees applying for resettlement will now be subject to intense screening measures effective immediately—even though refugees are already heavily vetted prior to their admission to the U.S. resettlement program. The additional requirements include providing specific addresses going back 10 years (instead of the current five years) for all places where they have lived for more than 30 days and listing a phone number and email address for all relatives on their family tree, rather than the current process of only requiring this information for relatives in the United States. 

The burden of providing this information is significant for individuals and families who may have been on the move for several years, fleeing war and persecution. 

At a hearing about the refugee program in the House Judiciary Committee this week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Francis Cissna along with representatives from the Department of State, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified to the numerous security checks and lengthy vetting process that the government has in place to screen refugees prior to admission. 

According to Director Cissna, the country admitted 53,716 refugees representing 76 nationalities in fiscal year 2017. With the world facing record levels of displacement, this number pales in comparison to the United States’ long-standing commitment to provide refuge and protection to vulnerable populations. 

The administration may have announced the resumption of the country’s refugee program, but in practice the additional requirements threaten to grind this crucial lifeline to a halt. 


Source: www.immigrationimpact.com

http://inmigracionyvisas.com/a3710-Refugee-Admissions-resume-with-Still-Restrict-Some-Countries.html